5 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

Welcome Back To Term 2

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope this newsletter finds you and your families all safe and well. With the developments over the holiday break things are looking very different to what we had planned for at the end of last term. It has been wonderful to see South Australia’s progress in managing the COVID-19 situation and we are pleased to see over 93% of our students returning to on-site learning this term. This number is likely to increase again in week 3 and we encourage that if families feel safe, to please send your children back as soon as possible to support our gradual return to full time face to face teaching and learning.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for your ongoing support, kind messages and flexibility during these challenging times. The staff and students have thoroughly appreciated your understanding while they have navigated a new way of delivering learning. I feel incredibly proud and privileged to be a member of our wonderful school community.

Staffing

We have had some staffing changes over the holiday break. We would like to welcome Danielle Sleep in Room 5 replacing Kat Woznicki who has taken maternity leave. We also welcome Leanne Herbert in Room 12 replacing Ainslie McGrath who has taken leave for Term 2. We are pleased to have both Danielle and Leanne’s expertise on board and look forward to their contributions to our students’ learning this term.

Rooms 9 and 10

We had an exciting renovation completed over the school break which has allowed for the completion of our final learning space in the joining of Rooms 9 and 10. Daniela, Julie, Matilda and the students have all commented on how wonderful it is to be working in this space as well as having the opportunity to learn in classrooms that foster flexible and collaborative learning. We are thrilled with how the renovation turned out and we look forward to the wonderful teaching and learning opportunities our students will now experience.

Flexible Learning

Next week staff will continue to provide both home learning and school learning experiences that are similar in nature, as was planned for at the end of last term. Whilst staff have been doing a magnificent job attending to dual roles, please be mindful that most classes have at least 90% of students present in the classroom which impacts the time available to attend to emails and correspond. As numbers increase we will continue to monitor our capacity to deliver home learning and will update you accordingly.

Virtual Assembly

To provide continuity in sharing and celebrating our successes we will be trialling our first in school virtual assembly in week 3. We are looking forward to seeing how this turns out and, dependent on updated restrictions, will look to share this with the school community. We will keep you updated.

Week 3 onwards

We remain committed to:

• Students practising social distancing strategies by not engaging in close friendly contact, hand shaking, hugging and similar interactions in the yard
• Students not drinking directly from the drink fountains. Please continue to send students with a full drink bottle
• No on-site whole school assemblies until further notice
• No facilities being hired
• After school sport and SAPSASA cancelled until further notice
• No Friday Playgroup
• No non DfE service providers on site
• The postponement of parent / teacher interviews until further notice
• The postponement of all incursions and excursions until further notice
• The postponement of volunteer programs and volunteer work at our school until further notice
• Our school being temporarily closed if there is a confirmed case of COVID-19. We will then follow our protocol in line with SA Health

We continue to ask that parents / caregivers minimize their time on site. If you are able to drop your child at the gate please do so. If you need to be on site can you please exit the school as quickly as possible and please do not enter classroom spaces or the Resource Centre. We also ask for your assistance in ensuring that all students are collected and off school grounds by 3.30pm.

As we receive information on any relaxing of restrictions we will update you as soon as possible. Continue to keep you and your families safe and remember to seek medical advice on COVID-19 testing if you are unwell or show any cold and flu symptoms. Take care.

Kind regards,
Andrew

Grip Leadership Conference

The GRIP Student Leadership Conference concentrates specifically on training student leaders for their role as SCHOOL LEADERS. The style, topics, and content of this conference all focus on what the students can do RIGHT NOW.

The goal was that our student leaders would leave the conference with a clear vision, a solid understanding and dozens of ideas for their time as a leader.

I really enjoyed the grip conference because it was super interactive and engaging. There were lots of mini games and activities that taught us about leadership and how we can improve and be better leaders especially as SRC Executives. It was a great experience and I would 100% go again if I could!

Lucy

SAPSASA Swimming

On Friday 28 February, 6 students from Eden Hills Primary School competed in the annual combined Southern Heights and City South district SAPSASA swimming carnival.

Taylor, Eliana, Ethan, Claire, Oscar and Leah were all extremely competitive participants in their races and represented our school and Southern Heights district wonderfully.

Taylor, Ethan and Claire all placed third in their butterfly heat, Oscar placed third in his backstroke heat and Eliana placed third in both backstroke and breaststroke.

Results and times are in the process of being checked and confirmed. Team selection for the combined City South and Southern Heights district team will be distributed to selected swimmers shortly. Hopefully we see some Eden Hills Primary School students in the team!

A BIG thank you to Sian for coming in on her day off for the night time carnival to support the kids. They really appreciated it!

Illness

Just a reminder, please do not send your child to school if they are unwell. All students and staff who are unwell with fever and/or respiratory infection should remain at home and seek medical advice on testing for COVID-19.

By staying at home the spread of illness can hopefully be contained, which then causes less disruption and risk to students and staff.

Pupil Free Days & School Closure

Below are our Pupil Free Days and School Closure dates for the remainder of 2020. Please remember if you need OSHC for any or all of these dates please contact Dianne on 0401 121 190 to book.

Pupil Free Days

• Monday 20 July
• Friday 7 August
• Friday 20 November

School Closure

• Monday 26 October

Canteen

Blackwood High School has reviewed its attendance figures along with those of the adjoining Primary Schools and with much delight the school has decided to re-open the Canteen from Monday 4 May 2020.

The Canteen will operate as normal and offer the same services as provided in Term 1.

The Qkr App will re-open on Friday for parents/caregivers to place orders.

Winter Uniforms

We have had a couple of inquiries about the girl’s winter pinafore. After some follow up we have been told that the pinafore is not an off-the-shelf design but a custom order. This requires a minimal order number and a 4 week turn around and consequently a significant increase to the price of the pinafore. At this stage we have decided to suspend supply of the winter pinafore due to low sales in previous years.

If you need to order more uniform, especially winter jackets, you can order and pay for them via QKR and we can give them directly to the students within 24 hours.

EHPS Propagation Shed News

As you may have seen, Eden Hills Primary School is in the exciting process of constructing and fitting out a plant propagation shed outside Rooms 11 and 12.

This space will be used by our students for the propagation of vegetables and native plants. These can then be planted around the school grounds and in existing garden beds.

Once irrigation, ground cover and shelving in the shed have been installed, we will be ready to go!

To help us get started, we are calling out for donations of the following items:

• 1 or 2 children’s or small sized wheelbarrows
• plant labels
• stakes and trellises
• spray bottles (to be used for naturally made pesticides)
• plastic safety glasses
• gardening gloves in suitable sizes for Receptions to Year 7s
• old shirts to be worn over school clothes (varying sizes for class sets)
• claws (for picking up rubbish around the school)

If you are able to donate any of the above items, please email Perdita at perdita.hope720@schools.sa.edu.au

Any contributions you can make will be much appreciated and will go a long way to helping us get this valuable initiative up and running.

Many thanks,
The Green & Gardening Teams

Eden Hills Clubs

Coding Club

Coding club is held in the S.T.E.M. Room every Friday at lunch. Coding club is about letting new and experienced coders learn on platforms such as scratch and code.org. Competitions are held once a Term and the winner will get a nice prize, this terms one is sport so people competing in it will have to create a sport related game. One last thing is that NO PLAYING GAMES is a #1 rule, as Coding club is about making your own and exploring and creating new things.

Sincerely,
Coding club members

Helping Hands

Helping Hands activities are on Wednesdays at lunchtime in the SAC. We give kids opportunities to do fun activities like face painting, obstacle courses, parachute, and competitions. All kids are welcome to come along and have a go!

Helping hands managers

Public Announcement Team - PA

The PA group sets up the sound system when we have an assembly and helps teachers round the school with technical problems. We also show other teachers’ work at assembly if it is their week to host. If there is anything that you want to show at assembly please get in touch with Benjy, Ben or Josh, your PA managers!

Paper Recycling

We are the paper recycling managers and our job around the school is to get your bins and empty them into the big bins. The bins go out on a Wednesday and come back in on a Thursday once a fortnight. The paper recycling group consists of 23 people and we do each class’s bins. Please only put paper and cardboard in your bins. If you have any questions please ask the mangers who are Seb, Xavier and Indie.

Entertainment Fundraiser

To purchase your digital copy click on the link below:

Meet Some of Our Amazing Volunteers

Sadly we haven’t been able to have these wonderful people onsite recently but we look forward to seeing them around our school again!

Name: Sam
Volunteer Role: Breakfast Club
Why You Volunteer at Eden Hills Primary School:
I love interacting with the children and staff along with giving back to the community. Also as part of my work we commit to a community contribution program which is Breakfast Club.
Favourite Colour: Blue
Favourite Food: Pizza
Favourite Thing To Do: Fishing and spending time with my family

Name: Raelene
Volunteer Role: Library
Why You Volunteer at Eden Hills Primary School:
To see friends and helping, keeps my brain working. I enjoy working in the library
Favourite Colour: Most Colours
Favourite Food: Dark Chocolate
Favourite Thing To Do: Sitting outdoors reading or pottering in the garden